Friday, 2 October 2009

In the UK the first day of autumn falls in September and runs through to December and it has to be said that autumn is my favourite season! Apples come into their own in autumn, with the cooking apple being one of them. I am not short of cooking apples at the moment and my family and friends have been enjoying apple crumbles, pies and cakes galore. My mother in law has an apple tree in her garden which was brimming with apples, hence why I have enough cooking apples to keep me busy in the kitchen baking up a storm! Yesterday I received a couple of new cookbooks from my recent late night browsing session on Amazon and this recipe happened to be the first I landed on, must have been fate! This cake is incredibly yummy and is wonderful served warm with custard, cream or clotted cream.

Measure the butter, sugar, eggs, chopped walnuts, sultanas, flour and baking powder into a large bowl and beat well for about 2 minutes until thoroughly blended.

Spoon half the mixture into the prepared tin then spread the grated apple and ground cinnamon in an even layer on top. Spread the remaining cake mixture on top, level the surface then sprinkle generously with light muscovado sugar and walnuts.

Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 1 ¼ - 1 ½ hours or until the cake is well risen and golden brown. Leave to cook in the tin for a few minutes then turn out, peel off the parchment and finish cooling on a wire rack. Dust with icing sugar to serve.

I had to share these pics of my gorgeous cat Madison whose been such a comfort to me in the recent weeks since Ollie's passing. His unconditional love for me never ceases to amaze me and his truly special! Here he is doing what he does best, being cute and posing for the camera.

"To some blind souls all cats are much alike. To a cat lover every cat from the beginning of time has been utterly and amazingly unique."

Happy Cook, Madison isn't a new cat, we've had him since he was a kitten and his now 10 years old. We also have another cat called Coco whose 9 years old and we've also had her since she was a kitten. I won't be getting any new kittens for a while!

I love the look of your cake Maria - it looks juicy and moist, perfect to show off the autumn apples - lucky you having home grown apples! There just seems to be so much fruit available to bake with at the moment! Cinnamon is always a winner with apple too.

I was so sorry to hear about Ollie, but glad you still have Madison and Coco to comfort you.

I so envy you your baking apple trees, I really miss Bramley apples and am sure that they make your cake taste wonderful.I'm just catching up and was so sorry to hear about Ollie but glad that you've got Madison to cuddle up to.

About Me

Hello and Welcome to The Goddess's Kitchen!
My name is Maria and reside in Surrey, UK. I'm a full time domestic goddess (thanks to my hard working hubby), wife and mother (I love my work). I'm also a nannie to my beautiful grandson called Ollie, who I just love to bits! My other babies are my 2 beautiful but spoilt kitties, Madison and Coco. My passion is cooking and baking and my kitchen is my sanctuary. I love being able to share my love and joy of food with my family, friends and fellow foodie bloggers. I confess to having a "slight" amazon addiction and love to browse and buy beautiful cookbooks and own over 200 cookbooks, a collection which grows regularly!